Twisted Fate
by kanjichibi
Summary: Eragon was raised by Brom in Carvahall. Murtagh lives with Roran and Garrow. After Thorn hatches for Murtagh in the spine, Eragon begins his journey to Varden in hopes of meeting his fate. What could he hope to find in Varden. Eragon/Arya. AU.


**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INHERITANCE CYCLE. C.P DOES.**

**This is a story of what if something different happened in inheritance cycle and not in a way the story was portrayed.**

**CHAPTER: ONE**

Faint moonlight casted a silvery haze on the thick forest. The forest was devoid of any disturbance except for the footsteps of twenty Urgals hastily arranging themselves for the ambush. Urgals were a brute race with bowed legs and thick brutish arms made for crushing, small curved horns grew just above their ears. Soon the rustling quieted and the forest was silent again.

A tall Shade Durza silently stood behind a thick tree overseeing the thin trail that led in to the clearing. He looked human except for the cruel expression on his face, crimson hair and maroon eyes. He growled as one of the Urgals stepped on a twig, all the Urgals quieted down to not anger the shade any further. Durza sniffed the air for any traces of unusual scent and he caught a slight whiff of it.

Durza was satisfied that the information he obtained was true and they were coming. He knew that it may be a trap for him. He cast a glance at the Urgals, they smelled of dead meat. He was not afraid that even it was a trap he was more than capable of taking care of the enemies and those Urgals were his mere weapons. The wait turned from minutes to hours.

_The scent must have travelled further by the wind,_ Durza thought.

The scent became stronger gradually and Durza could hear the hooves of horses before he could see them.

"Get ready." Durza whispered to the Urgals. He was vibrating with anticipation and his sword a thin long blade sung with blood lust. Within mere minutes Durza could see three white horses entering the clearing.

On the first horse was a male elf with pointed ears and elegantly slanted eyebrows. His build was slim yet strong. A powerful bow was slung on his back. A sword pressed against his side opposite a quiver of arrows fletched with swan feathers.

The last rider had the same face and angled features as the other. He carried a long spear and a white dagger at his belt. A helm of extraordinary craftsmanship, wrought with amber and gold rested on his head.

The middle one was an Elven lady with raven coloured hair and intense emerald eyes. She was covered from head to toe in black garb with a long sword adorned at the side and a bow slung across her back. The rider had a pouch on her lap which was looked at often as if to reassure that it was still there.

They came to the middle of the ambush and Durza was already savouring the victory when the winds betrayed him. The wind turned its direction notifying the elves the stench of the urgals. The riders stiffened their backs because of the scent. The elven lady reared her horse in to a burst of speed to reach the forest but the urgals released their arrows at once blocking the path.

The horses of the two male elves died at the hand of black arrows, they got on foot and charged at urgals with a battle cry. Durza was not bothered by them, he had hand-picked the strongest of the urgals for this quest and they would have no problem killing the two elves. Durza concentration was mainly on the pouch carried by the elven lady. Seeing she was trying to escape in to the forest Durza raised his hand and shouted

"**Boetq istalri**!"

The quarter part of the forest surrounding the clearing burst in to flames forming a ring. The elf turned around and tried to escape in other direction but Durza quickly covered surroundings of the clearing in magical flames. The elven lady tried using magic to stop the flames but to no avail.

The elven lady seeing that there was no escape leapt off the animal with inhuman speed and landed on the ground gracefully. She turned towards her companions they were on the ground in the pool of their own blood along with bodies of eleven urgals. Her face contorted in pain for an instant before becoming blank.

She made way towards the remaining Urgals with her sword drawn. The thin elven sword in her hand shined beautifully in moonlight. The closest Urgal ran towards her with his club raised and brought it down in a beastly way. She sidestepped the blow and when the club made contact with the ground, the ground cracked in a spider webbed pattern because of the Urgal's strength. She swung her sword and made contact with Urgal's neck, blood spluttered from Urgal's neck and he collapsed in a heap.

She quickly reached another Urgal and before he understood what has happened he was cut down from head to groin. She used her speed to her advantage and made a short work of Urgals. She turned towards the only remaining one in the clearing. With disfigured bodies of Urgals lying at her feet and blade stained with black Urgal blood she looked like a messenger of death.

Durza silently observed the fight without interfering as he wanted Urgals out of his way and he liked playing with his victims before killing them. He never thought he would have a chance to fight this much strong elf. He was getting excited to fight by seeing the way the elf had cut down the remaining Urgals one by one with ease. She was an exquisite beauty but her beauty held no charm for Durza.

She rushed towards Durza with all of her speed knowing she would need all her strength to defeat the Shade. Within a second she was up on the Shade and brought her blade towards his neck in the same way she killed the first Urgal. The clang of metal reverberated throughout the clearing. Durza stopped the progress of the elf with just a flick of his sword, the elf lost her balance and Durza kicked her in the stomach. She was flung ten feet across the clearing because of power behind the kick.

She got on her knees with sword in her right hand and coughed up some blood on the grass. She knew he was stronger and faster than her, and she had no way of winning without the help from her companion. She raised her searched for the traces of her companion and there were none. She pulled her magic and silently healed herself, the pain slowly went away. Her only choice was the use of magic.

She got in to a crouch and ran towards the shade and at the first strike of blade she used her mind to launch a mental probe at his consciousness. Because of the unexpected probe Durza lost his balance and the elf taking her chance continued assault with both her sword and mind. Soon Durza was on defence because of his momentary lapse of concentration.

She was using all her energy to stay in lead but the Shade was still dodging her sword with ill ease. At last she got past his defences and ran her blade from his elbow to the palm of his right hand. The shade howled in pain and jumped back to save his breath, not wanting to give him a chance of respite she propelled herself towards him. Just as she thought she was going to win by driving her blade through his heart he raised his uninjured hand and shouted.

"**Garjzla**!"

A red blot of energy emerged from his hand and hit the elf straight on her chest. Her progress was halted, she was breathing hard and most of the blast was absorbed by her armour so she was not in any mortal danger.

Durza cursed her because she gained upper hand in their fight. Durza circled her like a predator as she made effort to stand up. At the start he wanted to kill her quickly and end his quest but now he wanted her to suffer. Durza saw her eyes searching for something and he knew that the reinforcements are going to come soon so he wanted to finish it quickly maybe grant her painful death. Durza smiled and his body reeked with malice.

The elven lady understanding the shade's intention came to a decision. She knew that she cannot lose the egg to the shade as many people sacrificed their lives to get it in the first place. She had only one option and that was to send the egg away to Brom as he was residing near the forest.

Durza slowly started making way to the elf. The elf pulled the ruby stone out of pouch and raised it above her head, lips forming frantic words in ancient language. Desperate Durza barked

"**Garjzla**!"

The red blot shot like an arrow from his hand towards the elf but the attempt was a waste as a brief emerald light illuminated the clearing for a moment and the ruby stone vanished.

Durza could not believe that he has lost the stone, he howled towards the sky in anger. Durza came to realization that he only had one option that was to take the elf and extract information from her. He extended his senses and launched a mental attack at the recovering elf but her defences stood.

_She is strong_, Durza thought.

Durza concentrated his magic and pushed everything he got in to his mental attack. She withstood the assault for a few minutes but started faltering eventually. Durza expecting victory became reckless and suddenly her consciousness became all-encompassing and pushed Durza back violently. He staggered back because of the force and held his head in his hands in pain. He was puzzled to how the elf got strength to defeat him in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly Durza felt unsettling feeling of being a prey and then he heard the roar. The roar which he had not expected outside the city of Uru'baen, the black city. He raised his head to see the black dragon Shruikan but what he witnessed made him to take a step back with fear.

An emerald dragon circled above them and roared at heavens when it saw the state of the elf. The dragon landed with flourish in the middle of them facing Durza and protecting the elf. The dragon flexed its wings and puffs of smoke emitted from its mouth as it observed the shade with its emerald eyes. The dragon shined liked emeralds in the moonlight.

Durza immediately assessed the situation he was in. His mind started working rigorously to connect all the dots. The egg which has been stolen from the black city three years ago has hatched and the elf whom he had been fighting was a dragon rider. He knew it would be difficult to defeat a dragon and rider even though the rider was injured. He had killed and done treacherous things to come to this position and he would not let a mere dragon rider destroy his station in the empire. He knew he would praised by the king if he returned with a dragon rider.

Durza suspected the dragon would most certainly be protected by wards so he started weaving magic in to his sword to cut down the wards. He ran towards the dragon as the rider was injured, suddenly a blue ball of fire made way towards him so he had to abandon the attack. He turned towards the elf, she was standing with the support of dragon and healing her injuries. He knew he should not give her time to recover so he sent a red bolt towards her.

The dragon covered the elf with its wing before the red bolt could do some damage. The dragon made a shrill noise of displeasure with its wing partially burnt from the attack. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. Durza tried to weave magic but the dragon expecting the assault let a stream of emerald fire from its jaws.

Durza stood still as the fire washed over without harming him because of the wards around him but the magic was draining him at an alarming rate. He knew that young dragons cannot breathe fire for long so he waited for his chance to strike. As soon as the fire stopped he prepared for an attack but the only thing he could see was a spiked tail coming his way and hit him straight in his chest. He was lifted off the ground and thrown away like a ragged doll, he rolled through nearly half the clearing because of the force of the hit.

The dragon turned to the elf and said "_Arya make haste. We cannot fight the shade with you injured. We have to protect the egg no matter what_." Elf nodded and hastily climbed on to the saddle of the dragon with difficulty.

"_Let us be off Firnen_." Arya said.

Firnen spread his wings and stood on his hind legs with a powerful flap of his wings rose in to the air. Arya searched the clearing for Durza and she could see him trying to stand with a bloodied chest. She hoped that she could get rid of the shade that have been plaguing the lands for years but he was too strong for her. As she was watching the shade stood and magnified his voice with magic.

"Run far and run fast elf, but I will find you, I will drag you and your beast to Uru'baen to serve the king until the end of your days. I will kill all the people who stand in my way this is my promise to you elf." roared Durza.

Arya felt unsettled by the words of Durza, Firnen roared in rage at the words uttered by the abomination.

"_I will kill him and tear in to pieces. How dare he threaten me and my rider_." Firnen growled. Arya sent comforting feelings to Firnen through their mental link to prevent her dragon from attacking the shade.

"Those are just mere words Firnen, words of a lost beast. Do not pay attention to him, we have completed the task given to us. I just hope that I have sent the egg to Brom and he will keep the egg safe. We cannot search for the egg now as the king will be informed immediately of the dragon rider. We should leave the empire with haste." Arya replied.

"_Do not worry Arya we will be long gone from the empire before they realise our presence. As for the egg the matter is out of our hands. We do not gain anything by worrying about it. Now rest we have a long journey ahead to varden and your wounds are still healing_. _What of your companions_." Firnen asked Arya.

"They are no more." Arya replied with a heavy heart. Faolin and Gwenling were her companions for half a century. They were her close friends as humans would say but knew she cannot pity them as they both had a warrior's death in the battle field protecting their purpose.

Arya was always unnerved by the way Firnen would know the right words to help her in times of need. Her life changed when the emerald egg hatched for her one year prior. She was an elven ambassador for nearly seventy years and lived among humans for that period of time. Firnen became a part of her life within moments of his birth and now she couldn't even comprehend how her life would be if he did not hatch for her. With the happy thoughts of her dragon Arya slowly drifted off to sleep.

**PLEASE REVIEW...**

**I just couldn't get this plot of the story out of my mind so I sat down to write this Fanfic. I hope you guys like it. **


End file.
